System and method for managing customer&#39;s taste

ABSTRACT

A system and method for managing customer&#39;s preference information, the system including: a first storage device which stores first information of first clothes which a customer carries to a dressing room to try on; a second storage device which stores second information of second clothes purchased by the customer, and a processing device which processes and reports the first information and the second information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to sale information management of anarticle or a service, and more particularly, to a method and system ofunderstanding and managing customer's potential preference of an articleor a service.

BACKGROUND ART

According to a conventional sale management method, information of anarticle or a service purchased by a customer is collected and managed.For example, when clothes are sold according to a conventional art,information concerning which clothes are salable is collected and thecollected information is reflected when new clothes are designed.

Also, when clothes are sold, many people generally purchase only oneoutfit or two outfits after trying on several suits of clothes in aclothing store, or do not purchase even one suit of clothes after tryingon a number of clothes. While the clothes the customer purchases is veryimportant for establishing product development and sale strategy,information of an article which is selected as a potential purchasearticle by the customer, and is ultimately not purchased by thecustomer, may be useful for establishing new product development andsale strategy.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Goals

The present invention provides a system and method which can collectinformation of clothes which are tried on by a customer and are unsold,and compare the information with information of sold clothes, therebydeveloping and selling an article being in accordance with customers'needs.

The present invention also provides a system and method which cancollect information of clothes which are tried on by a customer and areunsold, and which can also collect information of sold clothes withcharacteristic information of the customer.

The present invention also provides a system and method which canautomatically collect and analyze not only information of sold clothes,but also information of clothes which are tried on by a customer and areunsold.

Technical Solutions

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided asystem for managing customer's preference information, the systemincluding: a first storage device which stores first information offirst clothes which a customer carries to a dressing room to try on; asecond storage device which stores second information of second clothespurchased by the customer; a recognition device which recognizes thefirst clothes carried to the dressing room, and transmits thirdinformation of the first clothes to the first storage device; and aprocessing device which processes and reports the first information andthe second information. The recognition device obtains the thirdinformation of the first clothes by using at least one of a bar code anda Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which are associated with thefirst clothes.

In an aspect of the present invention, the first information is stored,associating with characteristic information of the customer. Thecharacteristic information corresponds to at least one of a sex, an age,a skin color of the customer, and the like. Also, the characteristicinformation is transmitted to the first storage device by a recognitiondevice which recognizes the characteristic information of the customerwhen the customer enters the dressing room so that the customer may tryon the first clothes. The recognition device recognizes thecharacteristic information of the customer by using at least one of abar code and an RFID of a customer card provided for the customer.

In an aspect of the present invention, the processing device reportsfourth information of clothes which are tried on and are unsold, basedon the first information and the second information, associating withthe characteristic information of the customer. Also, the processingdevice extracts information of a difference between sold clothes and theclothes which are tried on and are unsold, and reports the informationof the difference.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda system for managing customer's preference information which managespurchase information for an online shopping mall, the system including:a storage device which stores information of an article which isselected as a potential purchase article by a customer and is notpurchased by the customer; and a processing device which processes andreports the information. The information is stored in the storagedevice, associating with characteristic information of the customer.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of managing customer's preference information, themethod including: storing first information of first clothes tried on bya customer; storing second information of second clothes purchased bythe customer from among the first clothes tried on; and reporting thefirst information and the second information. The first information andthe second information are stored, associating with characteristicinformation of the customer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system for managing customer'spreference information according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating storing information of clothes tried onby a customer and information of clothes purchased by the customeraccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating storing information of clothes tried onby a customer and information of clothes purchased by the customer,associating with characteristic information of the customer according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of a method of managingcustomer's preference information according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a system for managing customer'spreference information according to another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a system for managing customer'spreference information in an online shopping mall according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system for managing customer'spreference information according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

The system for managing customer's preference information according tothe present exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes afirst storage device 101, a second storage device 102, a processingdevice 103, and a recognition device 104.

A customer 107 selects potential purchase clothes from among clothesdisplayed in a shop. Also, the customer 107 passes through a door 105into a dressing room 106 carrying the selected at least one potentialpurchase clothes. The customer 107 tries on the at least one potentialpurchase clothes in the dressing room 106. The customer 107 leaves thedressing room 106 via the door 105 carrying the at least one potentialpurchase clothes which the customer 107 carries to the dressing room 106to try on the at least one potential purchase clothes. The customer 107goes to a counter (not illustrated) carrying clothes which the customer107 decides to purchase, pays for the clothes, and purchases theclothes. The present invention provides a method of collecting andmanaging information of clothes which are tried on and are not purchasedby the customer 107, by using an electronic method in theabove-described successive process.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, either abar code or a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is adhered toclothes. For example, a tag including either the bar code or the RFIDmay be adhered to clothes. Either the bar code or the RFID may directlyinclude information of clothes such as a manufacturer, a model name, acolor, and a size of each clothes, or may include an identifier of eachclothes. When the identifier of each clothes is included, information ofclothes such as a manufacturer, a model name, a color, and a size ofeach clothes may be easily obtained by using a storage device whichstores clothes information depending on each identifier.

When the customer 107 passes through the door 105 carrying clothes totry on, the recognition device 104 obtains, from the tag, information ofthe clothes which the customer 107 tries on. The recognition device 104may obtain the information of the clothes by using either the bar codeor the RFID associating with the clothes which the customer 107 carriesto the dressing room 106. For example, information such as an identifierof clothes, a manufacturer, a model name, a color, and a size of theclothes may be obtained. When the bar code is printed on the tag, thecustomer 107 may pass through the door 105 after inputting, in therecognition device 104 via the bar code, the information of the clotheswhich the customer 107 tries on. When the RFID is alternatively includedin the tag, the recognition device 104 may obtain the information of theclothes which the customer 107 carries to the dressing room 106 by usingthe RFID when the customer 107 passes through the door 105.

When either the bar code or the RFID includes only an identifier ofclothes, the recognition device 104 transmits the identifier to theprocessing device 103, and the processing device 103 may determineinformation of clothes to try on by using clothes information of eachclothes identifier previously stored, for example, a manufacture; amodel name, a color, a size, and the like, and store the information inthe first storage device 101. When either the bar code or the RFIDincludes information of each clothes, for example, at least one of amanufacturer, a model name, a color, and a size, the recognition device104 may transmit the information of the clothes to the processing device103 and enable the information of the clothes to be stored in the firststorage device 101. As described above, the first storage device 101stores the information of the clothes which the customer 107 carries tothe dressing room 106 to try on. The first storage device 101 stores theinformation including at least one of a manufacture; a model name, acolor, and a size of the clothes which the customer 107 tries on.

The recognition device 104 checks the clothes which the customer 107carries when the customer 107 enters the dressing room 106 and leavesthe dressing room 106. Accordingly, when a number of the clothes whichthe customer 107 carries when the customer 107 enters the dressing room106, and a number of the clothes which the customer 107 carries when thecustomer 107 leaves the dressing room 106 are different, it may berequested that the customer 107 should carry any remaining clothes whenthe customer 107 leaves the dressing room 106.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the firststorage device 101 stores the information, associating withcharacteristic information of the customer 107 when the first storagedevice 101 stores the information of the clothes which the customer 107carries to the dressing room 106 to try on. The characteristicinformation includes at least one of a sex, an age, and a skin color ofthe customer 107.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, acustomer card including either the bar code or the RFID, which includesthe characteristic information of the customer 107, is provided for thecustomer 107 before the customer 107 tries on the clothes in order tocollect the characteristic information of the customer 107. For example,when the characteristic information includes only a sex of the customer107, the customer cards of two types are provided depending on the sexof the customer 107. Also, the customer card is provided for thecustomer 107 depending on the sex of the customer 107 when the customer107 enters the dressing room 106 to try on the clothes. For example, thecustomer cards of two types including a male customer card and a femalecustomer card are prepared, and the corresponding customer card isprovided for the customer 107 depending on the sex of the customer 107.

When there is no customer card, the door 105 for entering and leavingthe dressing room 106 is not opened and closed. When the customer 107enters the dressing room 106 carrying the customer card, the recognitiondevice 104 recognizes the sex of the customer 107 by using the customercard. Specifically, when the customer 107 enters the dressing room 106to try on the clothes, the recognition device 104 recognizes thecharacteristic information of the customer 107 and transmits thecharacteristic information to the first storage device 101. The firststorage device 101 stores the information of the clothes which thecustomer 107 carries to the dressing room 106 to try on, associatingwith the characteristic information of the customer 107. In thisinstance, the recognition device 104 may recognize the characteristicinformation of the customer 107 by using either the bar code or the RFIDof the customer card provided for the customer 107.

The customer cards of N-number of types are prepared depending on anumber of the characteristic information of the customer 107 to analyze,and the customer card is distributed to the customer 107 depending on acharacteristic of the customer 107, thereby easily collecting thecharacteristic information of the customer 107. For example, when thecustomer cards are divided into two categories, for example, male andfemale depending on the sex of the customer 107, and the customer cardsare divided into three categories, for example, teens, twenties andthirties, and forties and over depending on an age of the customer 107,a total of six types of the customer cards are prepared. Also, when thecustomer card is distributed to the customer 107, one customer card ofsix customer cards is distributed depending on the characteristic of thecustomer 107. In this instance, the customer card includes informationof a customer's characteristic by using the bar code, the RFID, and thelike.

The customer card may be a card temporarily used for trying on clothes,or may be a card which is provided for the customer 107 and isrepeatedly used, for example, a membership card. Since thecharacteristic information of the customer 107 is stored in apredetermined storage device when the membership card is issued, thecharacteristic information of the customer 107 may be recognized byusing an identifier of the membership card when only the identifier ofthe membership card is included in the bar code, the RFID, and the like.Also, a credit card of the customer 107 and the like may be used for thecustomer card.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, whenthe customer 107 enters the dressing room 106, a face of the customer107 is photographed by a camera (not illustrated), and thecharacteristic information including a sex of the customer, a skin colorof the customer, and the like, may be extracted from a face image of thephotographed customer 107.

Information of clothes purchased by the customer 107 is stored in thesecond storage device 102. The information of the clothes purchased bythe customer 107 includes at least one of a manufacturer, a model name,a color, and a size of the clothes. Also, the second storage device 102may store the information of the clothes purchased by the customer 107,associating with the characteristic information of the customer 107. Thecharacteristic information of the customer 107 includes at least one ofa sex, an age, and a skin color of the customer 107.

According to still another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, preference of clothes which are not purchased by the customer107 from among clothes which are directly tried on by the customer 107may be inputted by using a terminal (not illustrated). For example,preference of clothes which are tried on and are not purchased by thecustomer 107 may be inputted in a terminal by using a numerical value.In order to easily recognize the clothes which are tried on by thecustomer 107, the information of the clothes which are tried on by thecustomer 107 may be stored in the first storage device 101 by a methodof using either the above-described bar code or the RFID, and an imageof the clothes tried on may be shown on a display device (notillustrated). Also, preference of the customer 107 may be inputted viathe terminal. Preference information inputted by the customer 107 asdescribed above may be stored in the first storage device 101 and beanalyzed by the processing device 103.

Even though the first storage device 101 and the second storage device102 are separately illustrated in FIG. 1, the first storage device 101and the second storage device 102 may be embodied using one physicalstorage device, and this case is also included in the scope of thepresent invention. Various storage media including a hard disk, a flashmemory, a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), and the like, may be usedfor the first storage device 101 and the second storage device 102.

The processing device 103 processes the information of the clothes whichthe customer 107 carries to the dressing room 106 to try on and theinformation of the clothes purchased by the customer 107, and reportsthe information to an operator. For example, the processing device 103may extract information of the clothes which are tried on and areunsold, based on the information of the clothes which the customer 107carries to the dressing room 106 to try on, and the information of theclothes purchased by the customer 107, and report the information to theoperator. The information of the clothes which are tried on and areunsold is very useful for understanding customers general preferencesand trends. Also, since the clothes are tried on and ultimately are notpurchased, analyzing a reason for not purchasing is very useful for newproduct development. For this, the processing device 103 may extractinformation of a difference between sold clothes and the clothes whichare tried on and are unsold, and reports the information of thedifference to the operator.

For example, a case where clothes of two colors, that is, red and bluefor an A-type design are being sold, and clothes of two colors, that is,red and yellow for a B-type design are being sold is assumed. When mostof clothes tried on are a blue A-type design and a yellow B-type design,the yellow B-type design is actually and mostly sold, and the blueA-type design is mostly tried on, and ultimately is rarely sold,changing a color of the A-type design to yellow may be considered.

Also, when the information of the clothes tried on is stored with thecharacteristic information of the customer 107, the processing device103 may report, to the operator, the information of the clothes whichare tried on and are unsold, associating with the characteristicinformation of the customer 107.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating storing information of clothes tried onby a customer and information of clothes purchased by the customeraccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

When the customer 107 passes through the door 105 to try on clothes 201and clothes 202, the recognition device 104 recognizes the clothes 201and the clothes 202 by an RFID of a tag adhered to the clothes 201 andthe. clothes 202. Also, information of the clothes 201 and the clothes202 recognized by the RFID of the tag is transmitted to the firststorage device 101, and is stored. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating anexample of information stored in the first storage device 101 asdescribed above. Also, when the customer 107 purchases clothes 203, thecustomer 107 pays for the clothes 203 at a counter. In this instance,information of the purchased clothes 203 is stored in the second storagedevice 102 by either the RFID or a bar code of the tag adhered to theclothes 203. The information of the clothes tried on and the informationof the clothes purchased by the customer are stored in an identicalstorage device, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The first storage device 101and the second storage device 102 may be identical in the presentinvention.

The processing device 103 processes the information of the clothes triedon and the information of the clothes purchased by the customer, andreports the information to the operator. For example, referring to FIG.2, the processing device 103 may extract the information of the clotheswhich are tried on and are unsold. Specifically, the clothes 201 aretried on once and are sold once, referring to 203 in FIG. 2.Accordingly, the clothes 201 are categorized as clothes which are triedon and are sold. However, since the clothes 202 are tried on once andthere is no information that the clothes 202 are sold, the clothes 202is categorized as clothes which are tried on and are unsold, and thisinformation is reported to the operator. When there is no clothesidentifier, a number of times of trying on the clothes and a number oftimes of selling the clothes are compared according to a type of theclothes, thereby obtaining a number of times of trying on the clothesand not selling the clothes.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating storing information of clothes tried onby a customer and information of clothes purchased by the customer,associating with characteristic information of the customer according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

When the customer 107 passes through the door 105 to try on clothes, therecognition device 104 recognizes the clothes by using an RFID of a tagadhered to the clothes. Also, the recognition device 104 recognizescharacteristic information of the customer 107 by using an RFID of acustomer card which the customer 107 has. The customer card includes atleast one of a sex, an age, and a skin color of the customer 107. Next,the recognition device 104 transmits, to the first storage device 101,the characteristic information of the customer 107 with the informationof the clothes recognized by the RFID of the tag, and enables theinformation to be stored. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example ofthe information stored in the first storage device 101 as describedabove. While a column 301 shows information of a sex of the customer107, the present invention is not limited thereto.

Also, when the customer 107 purchases the clothes, the customer 107 paysfor the clothes at a counter. In this instance, information of thepurchased clothes is stored in the second storage device 102 by usingeither the RFID or the bar code of the tag adhered to the clothes. Also,the characteristic information of the customer 107 is also stored withinformation of sold clothes by using a customer card of the customer107, and the like, in the second storage device 102. The information ofthe clothes tried on, and the information of the clothes purchased bythe customer are stored in an identical storage device, in FIG. 3. Thefirst storage device 101 and the second storage device 102 may beidentical in the present invention.

The processing device 103 processes the information of the clothes triedon and the information of the clothes purchased by the customer, andreports the information to an operator. For example, referring to FIG.3, the processing device 103 may extract the information of the clotheswhich are tried on and are unsold. Referring to FIG. 3, since thecharacteristic information of the customer is also stored, associatingwith the information of the clothes tried on, the processing device 103may also report the characteristic information of the customer trying onthe corresponding clothes when the processing device 103 reports, to theoperator, the information of the clothes which are tried on and areunsold.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a sequence of a method of managingcustomer's preference information according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention.

In operation S410, when the customer 107 passes through the door 105carrying clothes to try on, the recognition device 104 obtains, from thetag, information of the clothes tried on by the customer 107. Therecognition device 104 may obtain the information of the clothes byusing either a bar code or an RFID associated with the clothes which thecustomer 107 carries to the dressing room 106.

In operation S420, the recognition device 104 recognizes characteristicinformation of the customer 107 who enters the dressing room 106carrying the clothes to try on. The characteristic information includesat least one of a sex, an age, and a skin color of the customer 107. Thecharacteristic information of the customer 107 may be recognized byelectronically reading a customer card including the characteristicinformation of the customer 107.

In operation S430, the first storage device 101 stores the informationof the clothes tried on by the customer 107, the informationcorresponding to first information. The information is obtained by therecognition device 104 in operation S410, is transmitted to the firststorage device 101, and is stored. The information of the clothesincludes at least one of a manufacturer, a model name, a color, and asize of the clothes. The information of the clothes tried on by thecustomer 107 may be stored with the characteristic information of thecustomer 107. The characteristic information includes at least one of asex, an age, and a skin color of the customer 107.

In operation S440, information of the clothes sold to the customer 107is recognized. The information of the sold clothes may be electronicallyrecognized by using either the bar code or the RFID included in the tagadhered to the clothes. When the customer 107 carries, to a counter, theclothes to purchase and pays for the clothes, a salesperson inputs, inthe second storage device 102, the information of the sold clothes byusing either a bar code recognizer or an RFID recognizer.

In operation S450, the characteristic information of the customer 107purchasing the clothes is recognized. The characteristic information ofthe customer 107 may be electronically inputted by using a customer cardof the customer 107. Alternatively, an employee may observe anappearance characteristic of the customer 107 and manually input thecharacteristic information.

In operation S460, the information of the clothes purchased by thecustomer 107 from among the clothes tried on, the informationcorresponding to second information, is stored in the second storagedevice 102. The information of the clothes includes at least one of amanufacturer, a model name, a color, and a size of the clothes. Theinformation of the clothes purchased by the customer 107 may be stored,associating with the characteristic information of the customer 107. Thecharacteristic information includes at least one of a sex, an age, and askin color of the customer 107.

In operation S470, the processing device 103 reports, to an operator,the information of the clothes tried on by the customer 107, and theinformation of the clothes purchased by the customer 107. Also, theprocessing device 103 may process the information of the clothes triedon by the customer 107, and the information of the clothes purchased bythe customer 107, that is, the first information and the secondinformation, and report the first information and the second informationto the operator. For example, a difference between sold clothes andclothes which are tried on and are unsold may be analyzed and bereported to the operator. When the information of the clothes tried onis stored with the characteristic information of the customer 107, theprocessing device 103 may report, to the operator, the information ofthe clothes which are tried on and are unsold, associating with thecharacteristic information of the customer 107.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a system for managing customer'spreference information according to another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

The processing device 103 may be embodied in one physical device withthe first storage device 101 and the second storage device 102 asillustrated in FIG. 1, or may be embodied with a short distance fromeach other. However, the processing device 103 may be separated from thefirst storage device 101 and the second storage device 102, and beconnected via the Internet as illustrated in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, a first collection device 510 and a second collection device520 are installed in different shops. For example, the first collectiondevice 510 collects information of clothes which are tried on or aresold in a first clothing store, and the second collection device 520collects information of clothes which are tried on or are sold in asecond clothing store.

The first collection device 510 includes a communication unit 511, afirst storage device 512, a second storage device 513, and a recognitiondevice (not illustrated). The first storage device 512 stores theinformation of the clothes tried on in the first clothing store, and thesecond storage device 513 stores the information of the clothes sold inthe first clothing store. The communication unit 511 transmits, to aprocessing device 530, the information of the clothes tried on in thefirst clothing store, the information being stored in the first storagedevice 512, and the information of the clothes sold in the firstclothing store, the information being stored in the second storagedevice 513.

The second collection device 520 includes a communication unit 521, afirst storage device 522, a second storage device 523, and a recognitiondevice (not illustrated). The first storage device 522 stores theinformation of the clothes tried on in the second clothing store, andthe second storage device 523 stores the information of the clothes soldin the second clothing store. The communication unit 521 transmits, to aprocessing device 530, the information of the clothes tried on in thesecond clothing store, the information being stored in the first storagedevice 522, and the information of the clothes sold in the secondclothing store, the information being stored in the second storagedevice 523.

The processing device 530 combines a plurality of information receivedfrom the first collection device 510 and the second collection device520, and generates the information of the clothes which are tried on andare unsold. Also, the processing device 530 generates information of adifference between the sold clothes and the clothes which are tried onand are unsold. The present exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention enables the information of the clothes which are tried on andare unsold in a plurality of clothing stores to be synthesized and beanalyzed. In this instance, location information of the clothing storemay be added, and information of clothes which are tried on and areunsold for each district may be generated. The location information ofthe clothing store may be previously stored in the processing device530.

A management terminal 540 is connected with the processing device 530via Internet. The operator connects the processing device 530 via themanagement terminal 540, and reads a plurality of information generatedby the processing device 530.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a system for managing customer'spreference information in an online shopping mall according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention may be applied to clothes sale and a case whereinformation of an article including a service which is actually unsoldand a customer is interested in is provided. FIG. 6 is a diagramillustrating a system for managing customer's preference informationwhich extracts information of an article which a customer does notactually purchase in an online shopping mall and is interested in, andprovides an operator with the information.

The customer connects with an online shopping mall 610 via Internet byusing a user terminal 620. The customer examines various articlesprovided by the online shopping mall 610, and selects a portion of thearticles as a potential purchase article. For example, the customer maymove at least one article to an online cart, and select the at least onearticle as the potential purchase article. Also, only a portion of thearticles selected by the potential purchase article is actuallypurchased by the customer.

In this instance, a storage device 611 stores information of the articlewhich is selected as the potential purchase article but is not purchasedby the customer. For example, when the online shopping mall sells a gametitle, the customer selects four game titles A, B, C, and D as thepotential purchase article. However, the customer purchases only twogame titles A and B during actual payment. In this case, the storagedevice 611 stores the information of the article which is selected asthe potential purchase article but is not purchased by the customer. Inthis instance, information of the article, for example, a game categoryof the game title including a shooting game, a role-playing game, andthe like, a price, and the like, may be also stored. Also,characteristic information of the customer, for example, a sex, an age,a residential district, and the like may be also stored.

A processing device 612 processes the information of the article whichis selected as the potential purchase article but is not purchased, theinformation being stored in the storage device 611, and reports theinformation to an operator. Information of a difference between thearticle which is selected as the potential purchase article and is notpurchased by the customer, and an article purchased by the customer maybe extracted and be reported to the operator. For example, game titles Aand B are games of an identical genre, and have similar prices. Also,when the game title A is a game for Xbox and is selected as thepotential purchase article and is unsalable, and the game title B is agame for PS2 and is often purchased, it may be considered to develop thegame title A for PS2.

The embodiments of the present invention include computer-readable mediaincluding program instructions to implement various operations embodiedby a computer. The media may also include, alone or in combination withthe program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like. Themedia and program instructions may be those specially designed andconstructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be ofthe kind well-known and available to those having skill in the computersoftware arts. Examples of computer-readable media include magneticmedia such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical mediasuch as CD ROM disks and DVD; magneto-optical media such as opticaldisks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store andperform program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM), randomaccess memory (RAM), flash memory, and the like. Examples of programinstructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler,and files containing higher level code that may be executed by thecomputer using an interpreter.

According to the present invention, there is provided informationcomparing collected information of clothes which are tried on by acustomer and are unsold, with information of sold clothes, in order todevelop and sell an article being in accordance with customers' needs.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method andsystem which can collect information of clothes which are tried on by acustomer and are unsold, and which can also collect information of soldclothes with characteristic information of the customer.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method andsystem which can automatically collect and analyze information ofclothes which are tried on by a customer and are unsold, and informationof sold clothes.

Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a method andsystem which can automatically collect and analyze information of anarticle which is selected as a potential purchase article by a customerbut is not purchased by the customer.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown anddescribed, the present invention is not limited to the describedembodiments. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in theart that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing fromthe principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which isdefined by the claims and their equivalents.

1. A system for managing customer's preference information, the systemcomprising: a first storage device which stores first information offirst clothes which a customer carries to a dressing room to try on; asecond storage device which stores second information of second clothespurchased by the customer; and a processing device which processes andreports the first information and the second information.
 2. The systemof claim 1, further comprising: a recognition device which recognizesthe first clothes carried to the dressing room, and transmits thirdinformation of the first clothes to the first storage device.
 3. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the recognition device obtains the thirdinformation of the first clothes by using at least one of a bar code anda Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which are associated with thefirst clothes.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the first informationcomprises at least one of a manufacturer, a model name, a color, and asize of the first clothes, and is obtained based on the thirdinformation.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first informationcomprises at least one of a manufacturer, a model name, a color, and asize of the first clothes.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the firstinformation is stored in the first storage device, associating withcharacteristic information of the customer.
 7. The system of claim 6,wherein the characteristic information corresponds to at least one of asex, an age, and a skin color of the customer.
 8. The system of claim 6,further comprising: a recognition device which recognizes thecharacteristic information of the customer when the customer enters thedressing room so that the customer may try on the first clothes, andtransmits the characteristic information to the first storage device. 9.The system of claim 8, wherein the recognition device recognizes thecharacteristic information of the customer by using at least one of abar code and an RFID of a customer card provided for the customer. 10.The system of claim 6, wherein the second information is stored in thesecond storage device, associating with the characteristic informationof the customer.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the characteristicinformation corresponds to at least one of a sex, an age, and a skincolor of the customer.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein theprocessing device reports fourth information of clothes which are triedon and are unsold, based on the first information and the secondinformation.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing deviceassociates the fourth information of the clothes which are tried on andis unsold, with the characteristic information of the customer, andreports the fourth information.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein theprocessing device extracts information of a difference between soldclothes and the clothes which are tried on and are unsold, and reportsthe information of the difference.
 15. A system for managing customer'spreference information which manages purchase information for an onlineshopping mall, the system comprising: a storage device which storesinformation of an article which is selected as a potential purchasearticle by a customer and is not purchased by the customer; and aprocessing device which processes and reports the information.
 16. Thesystem of claim 15, wherein the information is stored in the storagedevice, associating with characteristic information of the customer. 17.The system of claim 12, wherein the processing device extractsinformation of a difference between a purchased article and the articlewhich is selected as the potential purchase article and is notpurchased, and reports the information.
 18. A method of managingcustomer's preference information, the method comprising: storing firstinformation of first clothes tried on by a customer; storing secondinformation of second clothes purchased by the customer from among thefirst clothes tried on; and reporting the first information and thesecond information.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the firstinformation and the second information are stored, associating withcharacteristic information of the customer.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein the characteristic information corresponds to at least one of asex, an age, and a skin color of the customer.
 21. The method of claim18, further comprising: obtaining the first information of the firstclothes by using at least one of a bar code and an RFID which areassociated with the first clothes.
 22. The method of claim 21, whereinthe first information comprises at least one of a manufacturer, a modelname, a color, and a size of the first clothes.
 23. A computer-readablerecording medium storing a program for implementing the method accordingto any one of claims 18 through 21.